The Household Cavalry and the King's Troop

The Life Guards returning from Buckingham Palace

The British Army still has working cavalry and is well known for producing good farriers.  It is a little bit of pagentry and a good bit of living history and we took a Thursday off to go down to London and see it all.

The Household Cavalry are based at the Knightsbrige barracks, right across from Hyde Park.  I am not a military person, so please excuse my inexact terminology, but there are two parts: the Life Guards wear red with white plumes and the Blues & Royals wear blue with red plumes.  I don't know what or why the difference, but they do alternate days protecting the queen.  When we arrived the Blues & Royals were getting ready to set off and when we left we passed the Life Guards returning.  Yes, they do have special classes to learn how to ride in all the fancy gear and are still trained in maneuvers to protect the queen if she were to be attacked while out and about.

Knightsbridge main gate

Farrier Major Neil Sherlock gave us the grand tour of Knightsbridge.  It is a very odd place, really, and is referred to as a "concrete jungle," although I think I prefer "highrise for horses."  It is a monstrosity of '60's architecture, although it has been updated into quite a nice facility.  There are ramps leading to all levels of stabling, with, I assume housing and offices above that.  The forge is located at ground level, immediately behind the parade ground.  When you go out the back of the building you are looking at some of the most expensive real estate in London.  I was also amazed by the lack of security- we litterally walked up to the main gate, asked to see the farriers and were led straight in.

The "High Rise for Horses." The Stabling is mostly behind this block, the parade ground is right in front of it and the forge is in the back of this block at ground level.

An aisle- the straight stalls ("stables") are hinged so that they will swing around and turn into a box stall ("stable").

The horse walker, located below ground level.  The stairs to the Forge are just to the right of it.  Behind it is the Pharmacy, complete with two vets and one tech.  The saddler's shop is buried somewhere to the left.

The Forge

 There are over 120 horses at Knightsbridge.  The day that were were there, they had at least forty horses to shoe.  This seemed like a lot, until I found out that there were eight farriers on duty. There are about twelve or thirteen farriers total, including apprentices, although two have to be provided to Buckingham and there are also some apprentices away to college.  The farriers get an accelerated course, having only a three year apprenticeship.  Any farrier deciding on a military career- meaning more than the obligatory seven years for a farrier- is required to pass their AWCF. 

  The horses we saw being shod were coming in off the grass (they are treated to several months rest every year), and this will probably be the only time that they get an entire set.  They are shod as necessary, usually in pairs of feet, every one to four weeks. They are inspected several times a week, if not daily, by the farriers to see if they need shoeing.  Neil says they are all trimmed to a T-square balance and that a flat landing is critical for these horses working on hard surfaces all of the time.  Apprentices pull and trim (which is evaluated by a qualified farrier), the qualified guys fit up and they may tack shoes in place, and then apprentices nail and clinch.

 

The Shoeing Floor.  The floor itself is made up of vertically laid wooden pegs and is absolutely lovely to work on, and much more tough than a traditional wooden floor.  The white board on the post has a list of all the horses currently in service and any special notes that about them.  To the left, out of the picture, is space to tie at least two, if not more, horses.

The sample shoe board for apprentices, showing them all the shoes they will have to make competently by the end of their apprenticeship.  The board to the right is where they can hand in shoes to be looked at and critiqued.

They just came off the grass and there wasn't much to work with.  The brands on the feet indicate the regiment it belongs to as well as the horses number.  This was started so that cavalry men couldn't sell their horses off on the black market, which they were wont to do, apparently.  In order to be issued a new horse they had to bring back the leg with the horses number to prove to the quartermaster that the old one was dead.

Branding irons for replacing the hoof markings as necessary.

The Farrier's Ax.  This is a ceremonial one, used in parades, although one would have been issued to every army farrier.  The spike is for dispatching wounded horses and the ax was for chopping the leg off as proof of death.

After the grand tour at Knightsbridge we took the Tube over to Woolich, where Farrier Major Alan Bould met us and gave us the grand tour of the King's Troops new facility.  At £17.5 million the brand new home of the artillery regiment is enough to make anyone green with envy.  This regiment is a little bit odd, because, despite their new place, they are a self-funded regiment.  As such, they go around and do shows with the guns, musical drives, etc. to earn income.

Row after row of stable aisles, enough space for 130 horses

One aisle with box and straight stalls.  The straight stall walls are hinged and can swing in the event a horse gets cast.

The Forge

The new place has a state of the art forge, complete with its wooden peg shoeing floor.  Alan and his crew evaluate horses every Monday and decide if and when they need to be done that week.  Because they are driving horses they tend to wear out hind shoes more quickly, with some only lasting a week, while an occasional pair of fronts may even get reset.  Alan is thinking about doing his FWCF at some point soon and using these horses to conduct a quantitative study about shoe wear.  Currently, he thinks that the wider webbed shoes last longer than the thicker ones and may use this as his thesis topic.

A spare horseshoe pouch.  A front and hind shoe go in the main pocket and the nails go in the little pocket in the flap.  This was developed during some war where the British were in the mountains and every time a horse pulled a shoe they had to kill it because it went too crippled to get it out of there.

The Saddler's Shop.  The King's Troop has its own saddlers, just like the Household Cavalry.  Saddlers, like farriers, have an apprenticeship and have various levels of examinations.  The tack for these horses is very specialized, as for the Household, and maintaining it is a full time job.

Cleaning it is also a full time job.  The polish, called "Bliffing" is absolutely outstanding, if somewhat nuts.  The King's Troop also agrees with me, and as of January bliffing has been officially stopped, although the tack is still polished the same mirror shine is not required (it is still very clean) and the effort is being concentrated on cleaning the guns.

The King's Troop, as already stated, is the artillery regiment.  The guns they have are original WWI guns that actually saw service during the Great War.  They are still impeccably maintained and perfectly functional, although they only fire blanks these days.

 

Alan demonstrates how a gun is positioned.  Firing one is a four man job.

They have a lot of guns.  To the right are all of the munitions wagons that were pulled behind the guns, and behind those was an extra string of six horses.  The harness for the front six is designed so that if the gun flips over the harness will rotate and the team will not be taken down.

There is also a hearse in the room with the guns.  Apparently, the other job of the Farrier Major of the King's Troop is to detatch the coffin in the event of a state funeral.  The screw that holds the coffin in place is just visible at the top of the hearse, towards the back of the wheels.

Ragged Appleshaw, Hampshire

The Salisbury Plain

 I have spent the last fortnight in Ragged Appleshaw with Cliff Barnes, vice president of the British Farriers' and Blacksmiths' Association (BFBA, formerly known as NAFBAE).  The first week was a busy one, as it was leading up to Newbury Show and Cliff helps run this contest along with Chris Linsser, another local farrier.  The catch was, Cliff was also competing for the first time in twenty years, so we spent a lot of time in the forge.  The sudden urge to compete is because Cliff is taking his AWCF exam in January and wants to practice shoeing under pressure.  He started a course through the BFBA to help farriers prepare for there Associate Exams.  It meets once a month for a year at Stoneleigh and all of the participants get to spend half a day forging and half a day doing theory and have homework in between courses.  There have been so many participants in this first round, about twenty I think, that the Worshipful Company have sent them their own exam test date!  As I got dropped off to meet Cliff at the class, I also got to spend the day forging, and Mark, the head instructor, had a number of really helpful pointers for me.

AWCF prep course at the Forge at Stoneleigh.  There was a good deal of cursing going on as everyone was trying to make and fit an Aluminium shoe to a cadaver leg in 25 minutes.  I think that some of the guys had never worked with "ally" before and they were on a very steep learning curve.

Newbury Show

Shoes and shoe making aside, this part of England is the quintessentially cute and quaint countryside that I think most of us Americans have associated with the country, and Cliff has taken a good deal of time to show it off to me.  Ragged Appleshaw is located between Salisbury and Winchester, right by Andover in the Test Valley. The Salisbury Plain (see picture above), which is also right by here, is home to the famous chalk horses, and other drawings, as well as a number of military bases and Stonehenge.  Chalk and Flint are the main two rocks here, the former making for great tourist attractions and very hard water while the later makes a great building material and can be the cause of serious hoof punctures.

An house built out of Flint.  This one is particularly sharp and prickly and the only other building I've seen all in Flint was a church made of dressed flint.

The Kennels.  This had been part of an estate, but has been broken off into a separate yard.  It is a lovely example of the brick and flint buildings in this area.  The "mushrooms" along the edge of the road are Staddle Stones, originally used for elevating granaries, but mostly used as decoration now.

The other style of building in the area.  It is invisible in this picture, but the thatch is covered in chicken wire.  This prevents the birds from robbing it for nests and also keeps vermin from getting in.  A thatch roof lasts twenty or so years.

The Barn that goes with the house above is also very cute.  Stall doors are around the other side.

Staddle Stones still supporting an old granary.  The domed stones on top are curved on both sides so that vermin cannot climb up around them to get in.

An huge old, wooden barn with a tiled roof.  Note how the ridge drops towards the gable end, this is a typical style for the area, although I can't remember what its called.  The large barn doors are also characteristic of barns down here, but are an add-on to allow steam engines access to the barns, previous doors having been too small.  Cliff Barnes is also pictured.

Watercress is a local crop.  It is grown on heavily irrigated pea-gravel and has to be harvested by hand.

My mug shot to get me into Larkhill Camp.  There is an "equitation center" on the military base where we had to go and shoe a boarded horse.  Luckily Cliff phoned ahead to say we were coming because the lady at the gate was on rather a power trip and really didn't want to let anyone in.

Larkhill stables.  It is quite a facility, complete with indoor and cross country course.  Cliff's wife will be going there for a dressage show this weekend.

We did manage to find a Unicorn.

Doug Bradbury's Farriery Museum

Jonathan gave me an afternoon to go up to Clay Cross and visit the museum put together by Doug Bradbury, FWCF.  Doug started his working life as a miner, but got moved into the blacksmiths shop after developing pneumonia.  He started shoeing the pit ponies there because his boss had a bad back, and the rest, as they say, is history.  The museum has been his passion for the last eight or ten years, after the loss of a leg forced his retirement.  It is absolutely and incredible collection encompassing farriery, mining and pit ponies, local history and both World Wars.  I was only there for a few hours and barely scratched the surface of it. 

Pit Pony head gear: a mask for taking them out of the pit for a vacation (left), a head covering (middle) and a complete head covering with eye protectors and headlamp (right).

Ankylosis, this specimen came from an horse that worked in a rail yard and had his ankles subjected to constant bending and twisting.  Doug had a massive collection of bones in various states of distress, as well as hoof capsules, photographs and xrays collected throughout his career.  Apparently he had just had a vet student visiting and she had spent an entire day going through his xray collection alone!

A spare shoe kit for the stage coach.  It all folds up and is neatly packaged.  The shoe is hinged at the toe only so that it can fit a wide range of feet.  It is designed to be a patch to stay on long enough only to reach the next stop.

Tie-on Lawn Boots.  Lawn boots were put on horses and ponies engaged in cutting the grass on tennis courts and cricket pitches so that they wouldn't gouge the surface.

Another type of Lawn Boot, this one screws on and tightens over the heels of the shoe.

We aren't sure what this shoe is for.  It was on a shoe board for an AWCF exam, but that doesn't clarify its purpose at all.

The anvil shaped stamp on this shoe is important.  It was a mark issued to all members of the National Master Farriers' and Blacksmiths' Association which they were supposed to use to mark all of their work with.  Work that was unmarked was deemed illegal and would not be serviced by legitimate farriers.

This is fairly self-explanatory.

A complete kit of sharps/drive in studs.

It would have been the apprentice's job to pop out the old studs and resharpen or replace them.  They were mild steel and wore out quickly.

A shoe board from the late nineteenth century, completely hammer finished.

The same shoe board with the top five shoes flipped over to show the hoof surface.  The bottom two have had the nail holes filled with copper and are flat, so there's not really any reason to flip them.

Nippers made by an army farrier out of old rasps.  All of his tools were made from old rasps, but these stood out because of all the leverage built into them for trimming draft horses.

Horseshoe making kit from WWI.  The mold specified where farriers were supposed to put the nails.  The blank spot in the heel is where a stamp with the size of the shoe (in this case a 5F) was put.  The stamp is just to the left of the mold.  Above is the horse shoe that came out of the mold, all ready for stamping and pritcheling.  The blacksmiths making these shoes were paid a pittance, but more importantly they were given medals and letters from the government so that they could not be accused of cowardice for not joining the war effort.

Odds 'n Ends from Gnosall

There is always an excuse for being late to work!

Alex Collier and Jonathan Nunn demonstrate teamwork and efficiency while clinching.